Lassa Fever Erupts in Nigeria

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A pile of garri, a staple food in Nigeria, in a shop in Lagos. The country is fighting an outbreak of Lassa virus, which is transmitted in rodent feces and urine and can contaminate foods like garri.CreditPius Utomi Ekpei/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The World Health Organization has sent a six-person team and 40 boxes of personal protective gear to help fight a major outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria.

About 615 suspected Lassa cases have been reported in the last six weeks, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control; 57 have been fatal. Fourteen health care workers have been infected, and four have died.

Health authorities are also following about 1,400 contacts of confirmed cases.

The new team will join 14 local W.H.O. staffers at the emergency operations center of Nigeria’s C.D.C., the agency said last week. It is also sending reagents for Nigeria’s laboratories to speed up diagnoses.

Many infections with Lassa virus are mild, but it can also cause lethal hemorrhagic fevers resembling those of Ebola.

Because the symptoms begin slowly and are initially similar to those of flu, malaria, shigellosis, typhoid fever or yellow fever — and because there is no rapid diagnostic test suitable for rural clinics — Lassa fever is often misdiagnosed, which delays responses.

There is no vaccine and no definitive cure, although an antiviral drug, ribavirin, can be helpful if given early. The virus is transmitted in rodent feces and urine, which can contaminate stored food.

The most common carrier is a rodent of the Mastomys species, 4 to 7 inches long and with 24 mammary glands. It lives mostly in rural areas; in some African countries, it is known as a “multimammate mouse” and in others as a “soft-furred rat.”

The government is encouraging villagers to store grain in sealed containers, to cook food thoroughly and to keep rodents out of homes.

As with Ebola, a heavily infected patient’s blood, urine, vomit and other fluids can teem with Lassa virus, and transmission between people often takes place in rural hospitals where protective gear is not available.

Experts believe the virus can also be sexually transmitted. About a quarter of all patients who get a serious attack and survive are left deaf.

Lassa fever is endemic in West Africa. Benin, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have all reported cases in the past month.